Intended for healthcare professionals
Unmet needs for chronic diseases in China
One third of the world’s 600 million adolescent girls (10–19 years of age)—about 172 million—live in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), forming the largest cohort of adolescent girls globally. A considerable number of these girls are affected by one or more forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight or obesity. These nutritional challenges have far reaching consequences for their health, development, and future wellbeing. Progress in addressing this triple burden of malnutrition in South Asia is crucial for driving global improvements in adolescent girls’ nutrition, which benefits everyone.
Persistent gender inequalities, systemic barriers, and gaps in policy and regulation continue to disproportionately impact girls’ health and nutrition in South Asia. Limited attention to food environments and industry influence further compounds these challenges. Addressing them requires gender responsive strategies and stronger policy action.
Editorial
Progress and challenges in NCD prevention and control in China
Jun Lv and Zuo-Feng Zhang highlight the importance of strong national leadership and mutlisectoral engagement in tackling chronic diseases
Analysis
Bridging the digital divide to promote prevention and control of non-communicable diseases for all in China and beyond
Ruitai Shao and colleagues argue that the digital divide may exacerbate global disparities in prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and enlarge health inequity when effective digital health solutions are unevenly distributed
Frailty as a breakthrough point for multimorbidity management among older adults: challenges and opportunities in China
Huan Xi and colleagues argue that tailored strategies are needed to seamlessly integrate frailty assessment into multimorbidity management, thereby promoting a shift towards a health oriented management approach
Burden of non-communicable diseases due to population ageing in China: challenges to healthcare delivery and long term care services
China has made substantial progress in healthcare delivery to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases due to population ageing, although challenges and opportunities in long term care services have been under-recognised, argue Xiaoming Shi and colleagues
Reducing inequity through tackling social determinants of cardiovascular diseases in China
Guang Ning and colleagues underline the importance of tackling social determinants and associated inequity in prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases
Non-pharmacological interventions for prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases with experiences from China
Non-pharmacological interventions for prevention of non-communicable diseases are undervalued, and clinicians and policy makers need to be more active in implementing them, say Hongbing Shen and colleagues
Opinion
Definitions of chronic disease need to be more patient centred
Early, small abnormal changes should be defined as disease only if there are effective interventions that can make an important difference to patients, argue Zu-Yao Yang and Jin-Ling Tang
Chronic disease and infection in China: lessons from the covid-19 pandemic
The covid-19 pandemic is over but provided many lessons for population health and chronic diseases, say Luzhao Feng and colleagues
This BMJ Collection on chronic diseases in China is funded by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing Hospital, and the authors and their institutions. The BMJ commissioned, peer reviewed, edited, and made the decisions to publish these articles. The lead editors for The BMJ were Jin-Ling Tang and Di Wang.
